Andy's Back-to-front Project

Well done Andy I had the same misfortune with the manifold all came off but.... there's a magic rattle appeared things summat needs tightening up

When I removed the probe from my manifold I managed to take the thread with it, had me perplexed for a while as to why there was a spring on the probe.

What do you find strange about the K series sump, I see nothing wrong with it but the vast majority of my experience is with MGR.

Ah, TalkingCars it's a butchered post from another forum, I was referring to the "ladder."

Regards,
Andy

So, I haven't done a lot on the car the last few weeks, been mega-busy with work, working away and just not been in the mood! My fiancée has also recently changed her job so everything has been a bit up in the air.

Friday afternoon, I jacked the car up a bit, for good reason, the MGF has a huge bloody great restrictor in its induction system. It's called the resonator box, and it'll strike fear in to the hearts of any MGF owner... It's burried deep in the engine, and it appears it was the first part of the engine bay to be fitted, before the engine; literally the car is built around it.

Normally the recommended method is to cut the box to pieces, then literally rip it out piece by piece though the NS rear wheel arch, a few hours of tugging, sawing and swearing sets it free. The manual suggesting removing all of the rear suspension, exhuast system, then remove the bolts securing the back of the car to the body, then lifting the body over the rear of the car just enough to get access to the box and rip it out in one.



Benham has skills, guess what Benham did! It's damn rare to see one of these whole! Well, I had got 90% of those parts removed anyway, so it was less messing about than cutting the bloody thing to bits.

Then there was an issue, the car was pivoted on a trolley jack, the castors started to roll, wedging the car up against my garage wall with only a few inches to spare! A crunch was felt as a block of wood I had on the garage floor wacked the sill.


nuts.

One thing for it, get the car out the garage and repark it, trouble is, all I had fitted to the rear of the car was the driveshafts, I needed an urgent reassembly of the rear of the car.

NS was easy enough, I found the hub in the back or the garage, and went to refit:


Then remembered I'd cut the balljoint down, quickly I found the new balljoint in my box of bits and fitted it:


Rinse and repeat on the other side, litterally throwing the car back together, missing bolts along the way, this was only to move the car 10' after



As the weather is getting better, I've left the car outside now, and jacked it up on blocks outside the garage!

PROTIP
Don't run an mid-engined car with the engine cover off, and no exhaust fitted....... This just discharges the smoke straight in to the cabin..... As I found out... The noise of the engine with no exhaust was deafening!

Oil was leaking everywhere, oh, that's because I'd forgotten to refit the sump plug! However more worryingly:

Was bound to happen sometime, turns out these bloody things can blow whilst they're sitting in a garage!

What a few days I've had with the car! Oh, the sill:


That's gonna need some fixing, doubt even Stevie Wonder would pass that come its MOT!

Oh, and to top it all off, in those ten feet, the accessory belt snapped too:


Welcome to old Rover ownership!

Regards,
Andy

Brilliant read ... :pop:

Oh, firstly this is also sitting in my spare bedroom, awaits comments, "haters gonna hate"





On a more interesting note, this arrived today, I've been laid up with a viral infection for three days, and just now I finally decided it was time to get out of bed!

Costing a whole £10, this is going to be the basis for my DIY induction system, it's actually from a Ford Fiesta RS1800 (on reflection, the car I wish I wouldn't have bought as a project, but we live'n'learn eh?!) but it was a price that it could be fettled with. I gave it a quick clean up, drew out a little plan of the induction system I'm designing, then set to work on a little modification on it.

As this is from a Ford, the crankcase ventilation is vented back in to the filter in part, obviously I have no need for that on a K-Series
I cut out the smaller PCV hose tail on the filter body, then enlarged the hole a few mm.



25mm grommet, this will be bonded in with some black sealant eventually, but after that I've had to go and lie down again! I will be putting a 2mm hole in this for fitting a temperature probe for testing.

Henry the cat thought it was a rather good idea!


Oh, a quick appeal for information, does anybody know the ID of the induction pipe diameter from the TB to the airbox on a standard MGF?

Regards,
Andy

Just found this on the net copied and pasted to don't hold me responsible if its wrong,
the outer diameter on the inlet side of the TB is 69mm and is the same for at least the 48 and 52mm versions. I just fitted a 52mm in exchange for the original 48mm and it was a straight swap rubber-wise. Even the old clip could be reused.

Thank you for that, I'm suprised the induction piping is of such small ID, as the same capacity (but more power :whistle: ) Zetec has 85mm ID for the induction piping.

Never fear though, this'll work, one way or another, I'z 'as skillz bruv

Regards,
Andy

If all else fails use a big hammer it will fit then lol

Andy

That's looking good mon ami. I admire you resilience,

I'm a lover of Fords company car is a new Mondeo and I'll pit moon mileage on it knowing it won't break down. Notice kiss of death comment there.

Keep up the good work it will be worth it and come the summer of 2050 you'll love it.

Tone

By the time I'd got back to solid metal on the outer sill



The inner sill is actually alright, surface corrosion that I'll wire wheel and treat, but it's actually rock solid.

This car is actually a complete basket case!

Regards,
Andy

Look what arrived today (there are four of them!) thanks to Birks, no thanks to City-Link!



Bit of an improvement over the 15" wheels I think!



Regards,
Andy